Today we're visiting Burgos, an important minting site of the Castilian kings. Then it's on to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, known for the fact that its roast chickens occasionally have a tendency to come back to life!

It was freezing cold and the sun was beaming as we set off from the parador in Leon to cover yet another leg of the Way of St. James in reverse order. Our next destination was Burgos, arguably one of the most famous cities in Northern Spain.

Today, Burgos is still an affluent and active commercial city with a sprawling retail centre. It's also one of the most important tourist centres in northern Spain, something that we were certainly happy about. The city centre was wonderfully signed, as was the convenient parking garage. And the cathedral was big enough that it was easy to find straight off the bat.

Burgos was founded in the year 884 by Alfonso III as one of many fortresses, or castle villages, which give the region its name: Castille. They served as a safeguard against the Arabs and, through their depiction on Castilian coins, became a symbol of the kingdom.

To read the complete article, see:Numismatic Northern Spain - Part 8(www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/4?&id=1606)